On October 2nd, us Television addicts tuned in for HBO’s brand new show: Westworld. The buzz of this show has only begun- and it’s reasoning for being so popular is it’s subtle approach to talking about the morality surrounding artificial intelligence. The premise of this show- or what we can gather from only the first two episodes, is that this place “Westworld” is a type of amusement park inhabited by overly realistic human-like 3D printed robots that are designed to fulfill your every demand in the synthetic Old West. But AI is not my primary concern, what really struck a chord with me while watching this show was the fact that Westworld is a place that people go to have their every desire fulfilled. Families could have a fun, light, old west time, but from what we can tell that the primary clientele are the people who like to have sex with prostitutes, gamble, kill, and rob banks! This really got me to thinking… In a world where we are desperate to escape from our reality, how can we address our thoughts and feelings unlike the patrons of Westworld? I know how! Keep reading!

“Creator of Westworld Robert Ford (Anthony Hopkins) in his room with the 3D printed heads for the hosts of Westworld Amusement Park.”​Photo Credit: HBO’s Westworld

Well, diddly-darn (yes, diddly-darn), everyone in the Westworld Amusement Park and the people who run it have the worst communication skills. The only robot/person that does communicate is Dolores’ dad, and he gets put in the warehouse with the other “broken robots”. But it’s so important to communicate! Nothing big happens in this world alone, most of the time you need help! Sometimes our dreams our so big we can not execute them ourselves. When we ask others, we are able to share on a deeper level because it’s human nature to help other humans. When we ask for help, it makes the other person feel needed, and deep down we all want to feel needed. When we talk about what we want there is no room for miscommunication. The more open and honest you are, the less you’ll want to find an escape, because they’ll understand where you’re coming from and vice versa.

“A host from Westworld in dipped in a vat of some white substance that is part of their creation process.”​Photo Credit: HBO’s Westworld

What about creatively expressing how you feel? Even though in Westworld the guests are running a muck, the hosts (although scripted) live very reasonably, with good coping skills. For instance, Dolores, in the first episode we see at the end that she clearly knows that she is the creation of someone else, but she has gained a sentience of her own and is able to lie and remember. Although lying to her creators is probably going to start some drama down the line, Dolores copes quite well. In fact in one scene we see her painting a landscape. Although that was more than likely scripted for her to be there, the writers for the park gave her a coping skill without knowing. The same goes for the creator of the robots. Even though by making them more life-like lets them have more analytical thinking, for him it’s an advancement in science and creativity.

So we all know we can cope by furthering our knowledge, or talking about it, but you can also literally escape! I’m not saying hire a bunch of prostitutes, and rob a bank, I’m saying just go outside! Explore! There’s nothing that can’t fix my mood like going for a walk. In fact you can tell that these hosts of Westworld do it on a regular basis. There are a ton of times where there are scenes of just hosts and no guests! Sometimes you see them go for a horseback ride and just admire the scenery. This is one of the easiest, and pleasant things you can do for yourself. You release endorphins, get to think, and maybe see something you wouldn’t have seen before. Bring a camera and some water, you could be gone for hours!

So, now while you’re anxious for the next week awaiting to see what Dolores is going to do next, you can communicate, be creative, or go for a walk before you start doing any of those crazy things they’re doing in that fabricated reality. Thankfully, our lives aren’t that fake. We have repercussions, consequences, and if we didn’t the world would be chaos. Being your best you, makes the best world. This show Westworld blew my mind with the amount of controversial topics it contained, from coping with reality to the way we treat women in our society, this show has it all. So if you don’t agree with me already, you can talk about it artistically with me in my post next week about how to make you’re very own art journal! They say violent delights have violent ends, so lets make our delights peaceful so our ends are just as so!

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A Guide to Using Art as a Coping Skill, through the lens of a former psychiatric ward patient, and current painter.